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The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.
- Overview
- The pre-independence period
- Postindependence dominance of the Nehru clan
The Indian National Congress is one of two major political parties in India. It was influential in the 20th-century Indian independence movement and dominated much of the republic’s early political scene.
When was the Indian National Congress founded?
The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, initially with the goal of pursuing moderate reform under the British raj in India. Its roots are in the early Indian nationalist movement that arose from the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
What role did the Indian National Congress play in the Indian independence movement?
The Indian National Congress was initially focused on moderate reform under the British raj in India. However, some early 20th-century activists began to boycott British imports and promote Indian goods, garnering the support of a wide swath of social classes. In the 1920s and ’30s party leader Mahatma Gandhi supported nonviolent acts of civil disobedience. Although tensions between the Congress Party and the raj escalated during World War II, by 1947 these tactics had secured independence for India.
What policies have historically been supported by the Indian National Congress?
The Indian National Congress first convened in December 1885, though the idea of an Indian nationalist movement opposed to British rule dated from the 1850s. During its first several decades, the Congress Party passed fairly moderate reform resolutions, though many within the organization were becoming radicalized by the increased poverty that accompanied British imperialism. In the early 20th century, elements within the party began to endorse a policy of swadeshi (“of our own country”), which called on Indians to boycott of imported British goods and promoted Indian-made goods. By 1917 the group’s “extremist” Home Rule wing, which was formed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant the previous year, had begun to exert significant influence by appealing to India’s diverse social classes.
In the 1920s and ’30s the Congress Party, led by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, began advocating nonviolent noncooperation. The new change in tactics was precipitated by the protest over the perceived feebleness of the constitutional reforms enacted in early 1919 (Rowlatt Acts) and Britain’s manner of carrying them out, as well as by the widespread outrage among Indians in response to the massacre of civilians in Amritsar (Punjab) that April. Many of the acts of civil disobedience that followed were implemented through the All India Congress Committee, formed in 1929, which advocated avoiding taxes as a protest against British rule. Notable in that regard was the Salt March in 1930 led by Gandhi. Another wing of the Congress Party, which believed in working within the existing system, contested general elections in 1923 and 1937 as the Swaraj (Home Rule) Party, with particular success in the latter year, winning 7 out of 11 provinces.
From 1951 until his death in 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru dominated the Congress Party, which won overwhelming victories in the elections of 1951–52, 1957, and 1962. The party united in 1964 to elect Lal Bahadur Shastri and in 1966 Indira Gandhi (Nehru’s daughter) to the posts of party leader and thus prime minister. In 1967, however, Indira Gandhi faced open revolt within the party, and in 1969 she was expelled from the party by a group called the “Syndicate.” Nevertheless, her New Congress Party scored a landslide victory in the 1971 elections, and for a period it was unclear which party was the true rightful heir of the Indian National Congress label.
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In the mid-1970s the New Congress Party’s popular support began to fracture. From 1975 Gandhi’s government grew increasingly more authoritarian, and unrest among the opposition grew. In the parliamentary elections held in March 1977, the opposition Janata (People’s) Party scored a landslide victory over the Congress Party, winning 295 seats in the Lok Sabha (the lower chamber of India’s parliament) against 153 for the Congress; Gandhi herself lost to her Janata opponent. On January 2, 1978, she and her followers seceded and formed a new opposition party, popularly called Congress (I)—the “I” signifying Indira. Over the next year, her new party attracted enough members of the legislature to become the official opposition, and in 1981 the national election commission declared it the “real” Indian National Congress. In 1996 the “I” designation was dropped. In November 1979 Gandhi regained a parliamentary seat, and the following year she was again elected prime minister. In 1982 her son Rajiv Gandhi became nominal head of the party, and, upon her assassination in October 1984, he became prime minister. In December he led the Congress Party to an overwhelming victory in which it secured 401 seats in the legislature.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Il Congresso Nazionale Indiano è un partito politico indiano secolarista. Fu fondato nel 1885 da Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji e Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, e divenne ben presto il riferimento politico nazionale del movimento d'indipendenza indiano, con più di 15 milioni di indiani attivi nelle sue organizzazioni e più di 70 ...
6 giorni fa · However, as the largest single party in opposition in parliament after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; Indian People’s Party), the Congress Party was vital in both making and defeating the UF. In November 1997 the Congress Party withdrew its support from the UF, prompting elections in February 1998.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Discover the Nyay Patra, Indian National Congress' comprehensive manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Delve into their vision for equity, youth, women, farmers, workers, and environmental sustainability, as well as their plans for governance, economy, federalism, and national security.
Indian National Congress, or Congress Party, Broadly based political party of India, founded in 1885. The Congress Party was a moderate reform party until 1917, when it was taken over by its “extremist” Home Rule wing (see Bal Gangadhar Tilak).
The Official Channel of India's most vibrant political movement. The values of the Indian National Congress are deeply rooted in democracy.
